Purpose in Pain
Purpose in Pain
By Liz King
Being a human being on this earth, we go through many things. We experience joy, hope, pain, sorrow, desperation, and more. Through all the things we go through in life, the hardest one is pain and suffering. We suffer physical pain and emotional pain. It can come from the loss of someone close, trauma, abuse, and sickness. Pain can build us or destroy us. It can define who we are or define who we become. I am a living example of that. I have learned one thing in life is that pain has purpose. Everything we go through, and experience has purpose if we are willing to change our perspective from earthly one to a heavenly one.
We as human beings seek an identity. We want to belong, be seen and heard. We want to be loved. We are born needing someone. Our circumstances affect who we become and sometimes our circumstances end up becoming our identity. I suffered a horrible illness for about 8 years. My sickness became my identity. The trauma and illness, I believed, made me someone or made me seen. I got lost in that identity and couldn't see past it. It wasn’t until I started to get deeper in my relationship with God that I was able to see my identity was in him and not the things I went through. My identity soon became him, and I no longer sought identity in my pain and suffering, my suffering wasn’t meaningless, it had purpose.
We live in a fallen world. The world is filled with evil, and many people live a life far from God and sadly, even some who claim to follow God have caused pain. These people can leave a wake of destruction in those around them. Some of us are the victims of people like these. Everything from rape, abuse, death, sickness, molestation, manipulation, and control have ravaged many throughout the generations but that does not have to be our story, it does not have to be our identity. These experiences do not have to define us. We can look ahead to the one who can make our stories become God’s glory.
I know many Godly women who have suffered traumatic events, everything from gang rape, adultery, loss of children, molestation, drug abuse, and overdoses. These women now live in joy and freedom. These women could have stayed in their desperation and let that define them the rest of their life, but they didn’t. They gave these circumstances to God, and he redeemed them. They came to know and trust the power of the cross. You may think, “How dare you say my pain has a purpose!” I'm here to say, from personal experience, it does. God will use everything, if we let him. He can restore anything if we give it to him. He can take what Satan means for evil and work it for our good.
How could anything good come out of evil? God never wanted evil to happen but unfortunately, we live in a fallen corrupt world and a world of free will, where other’s choices can have consequences on our lives. I have learned many things through my sufferings. I have learned of God’s faithfulness. My suffering taught me faith. It also taught me that God can take anything and make it beautiful in its time. I can now look back through my pain and see where he never left me. I see where he held me up and showed his love for me through people. There is so much power in surrender. When we surrender our circumstances and our suffering to Jesus, He is able to shape it into something glorious.
When we surrender our circumstances to Jesus, he will use it to minister to others who have been in the same situations. When we are able to see that someone who has suffered what we have been through we experience hope. We are not alone, and God will not leave us alone. We can be restored, and our faith can grow through mutual understanding when we share our stories of how God has restored us. We are able to help others because our identity is in Him and not our sufferings or situations. We are able to overcome the trauma that we have suffered and not get stuck in that emotional wallowing or victim mentality that can become our identity.
There is power in pain. Everyone has suffered it. No one is immune. We can become more than our pain, trauma, or the things the evil in this world has thrown at us. Jesus repeatedly restored others in the Bible and he did not let their past define who they would become. He let their past show what He could restore. Some examples were: Mary Magdalene, a demon possessed woman who shared the freedom and redemption of Jesus Christ. Peter, a friend who doubted Jesus at times and denied knowing him, he then became the one who led the spread of the message of Jesus Christ and refused to deny Jesus which led to his death. Zaccheaus, a tax collector, a thief who filled his pockets with the money of his own people. He was seen by Jesus and returned what he stole to the people. The Samaritan woman, she had many failed marriages and was an outcast in her community. Jesus saw her and she was the first one he revealed himself as Messiah and she was the first one credited for preaching or sharing the gospel of Jesus to her community, leading many to Jesus.
The best example of purpose in pain is Jesus himself. The suffering, the beatings, his death on the cross had immense purpose, and it was for us. Its purpose was to pay for our sins, give us eternal life, and restore our relationship with our heavenly Father. Jesus' suffering was for our salvation. His pain was for our good. Every nail in his hands and feet, every lash that covered his back, every thorn pushed into his skull, and the spear thrust in his side was for us. He didn't stay in that state he rose again, and he was glorified, and he wants that for us too.
We are not defined by our past, we are defined in Jesus. He takes our pain and makes it have purpose. What Jesus restores, he grows and flourishes. He uses every circumstance and every hurt; he takes our ashes and makes beauty. Pain can either have purpose or it can destroy. I choose purpose because He’s taken every horrid thing in my past and made something beautiful. He can take the broken and restore it into something new, you just have to let him, trust Him, allow Him. He can do more with our pain, suffering, and brokenness than we ever could imagine. He can turn everything it into an eternal glory. Let him show you what you can become and surrender your past to him. Let him show you your identity in him. Allow him to show you who he created you to be. Let him define you, not your pain. There is hope and there is healing in Jesus Christ.
Comments
Post a Comment